Texas Mexican Border Mission

Texas Mexican Border Mission (Mennonite Church), carried on in southern Texas with Mathis as a center, where the Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities erected a church in 1955. Mathis is centrally located. This mission is under the direction of the General Mission Board although it is located in the South Central Mennonite Conference. In 1945 there were 50 baptized members, scattered over the entire district; in 1957 the membership was 66. This mission was officially organized at Normanna, Texas, on 11 December 1938, when A. H. Kauffman and wife, the first missionaries, became members of the Mexican Mission. On 1 January 1939, Kauffman was ordained to the ministry. During the first few years David Alwine and wife and Arthur Shertz and wife were helpers in the work. On 12 May 1940, the first and only Mennonite Mexican conference was held at Normanna, with representatives present from the mission stations of Falfurrias, Tynan, and Helena. In 1944 the Calvary Mennonite Church was organized at Mathis. In September 1946 the Kauffman family returned to Indiana and the Wm. Lauver family was appointed to take charge of the work in Texas. In 1954 J. Weldon Martin was the superintendent of the mission work until June 1957, when Paul Conrad became the pastor. A Voluntary Service unit worked at Mathis for several years, assisting in the building of the church and other work. In August 1958 work was begun at Alice, 35 miles southwest of Mathis, with Sylvester Zapata as licensed pastor. The mission in Corpus Christi, begun in 1956 by Don Brenneman, was continued by J. Weldon Martin.